Women’s Stories

The women featured in this section of the website were identified and interviewed throughout 2013–14 by Kurdish-speaking researchers employed by Soran University. Their interviews were recorded on a digital device and then transcribed into Kurdish before being translated into English and cross-checked for accuracy. The women were all between 60-90 years of age (approximately) at that time. The names of the women, all family members and characters mentioned in the stories have been changed to protect their identity.

look at this website Naze: In the name of God, the Almighty and the Merciful. I am Naze. I was born in 1951. I lived in a family with an average income. We were a big family; nine sisters and five brothers…Read on in English.

Zerin: Rousseau says when we are born we are bound up in swaddling clothes, our corpse is nailed down in our coffins and all our life long we are imprisoned by our institutions or traditions. I can say that this totally applies to Kurdish women…Read on in English.

Samiramees: I got married in 1974, and in the same year we immigrated to Iran. Before reaching Iran, we stayed in Shekhan village for a month, then after Saddam bombed the Korek Mountain, we were obliged to go to Kazhak village…Read on in English.

Gelawezh: The difficult times of life, the oppression and persecution and violation of Kurdish individuals’ rights forced the Kurdish nation to defend their legitimate rights. And this resistance was possible through struggle and effort…Read on in English.

Zin: For the beginning, if I talk about my life as a Kurdish woman, believe me, it’s all misery. Before I could get married, my father was imprisoned for nearly one year. It was all misery…Read on in English.

Awaz: What I am going to say is a story. It is neither a dream nor something I have created. It is an event, a real event, under the title A Small Dalaqa. Because there are some dalaqa’s that some people cannot see things through it, but I can see things through…Read on in English.